Kosovo Media Accuse PDK of Unfair Election Airtime Demand

Kosovo's ruling parties have been accused of trying to secure much more than their fair share of media coverage in the general election.

The complaint comes after the candidates of the coalition of three parties - the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and the Initiative for Kosovo, NISMA - all demanded be treated as separate entities in terms of media coverage.

They want three times more minutes in election TV debates than representatives of the opposition Vetevendosje party - and one-and-a-half times more airtime than the two-party coalition between the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, and Alliance New Kosovo, AKR.

Jeta Xharra, an anchor of TV election debates and BIRN Kosovo's Director, said what the PDK-run coalition was pushing for looked illegal, since election law guarantees equal air time to each political bloc - not each part of a bloc.

"The PDK has stipulated to all the broadcast media, including us, that as a condition of its participation in our election debates, their coalition should have three times more time to present their programme than Vetevendosje and twice the airtime of the LDK-AKR coalition," she said.

The head of the board of Independent Media Commission, IMC, Adnan Merovci, told BIRN that Kosovo, unlike elsewhere in the region, has so far had quite a success in organising debates.

"For more than 10 years now, we have seen all political entities in Kosovo present themselves in equal air-time in political debates and the audience has become accustomed to seeing a fair play from this representations, at least during election time," said Merovci.

In most Balkan countries politicians are routinely refusing to take part in debates with their opponents.

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